


The One Monsters Have Nightmares About

by Thatonegayone



Category: The Prom - Sklar/Beguelin/Martin
Genre: Buffy the Vampire Slayer AU, Chosen One Narrative, Demons, F/F, Magic, TW: Blood, TW: Violence, Vampires, lesbian activity, slayer au
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-18
Updated: 2020-12-13
Packaged: 2021-03-04 17:42:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 20,159
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25350328
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Thatonegayone/pseuds/Thatonegayone
Summary: The book was old and bound in a light tan leather that could have easily been human skin. Across the cover was the word “Vampyr” in blood-red.Emma looked up at Barry, unimpressed, “that’s all you got?”Barry spluttered for a second, clearly, he was hoping for a bigger reaction. Instead, he was just met with a very bored Emma. He quickly regained his composure and “Emma. You’re the Slayer. The one who fate has chosen to bestow immense powers upon to fight the vampires and demons of this world.”“Yeah, and that never really got me anywhere good, did it?”
Relationships: Alyssa Greene/Emma Nolan
Comments: 34
Kudos: 38





	1. Welcome to the Hellmouth

Emma hated having to start over. 

First, it was getting kicked out of St. Cecilia’s Catholic School for Girls — it turns out the nuns weren’t too happy when they found Emma and Nickie Pera in the janitor’s closet. Then, it was leaving Madison High after a fight that ended up burning the gym down. 

Now, here she was, standing outside of James Madison High School in Edgewater, Indiana. Gran was nice enough to drop her off a few blocks away from the school although Emma told her it wasn’t necessary. 

“Nonsense, you don’t want to have your little old grandma ruining your chance at getting any ‘street cred’ on your first day,” Betsy said with a laugh. “Anyways, I have to go see a man about a car.” 

Emma grabbed her backpack and jumped out of the car, “thanks, Gran. I’ll see you later.” 

She closed the truck door and headed towards school, reminding herself to keep her chin up and just make it through the day. So far, nothing out of the ordinary had happened since coming to Edgewater, so there was still hope that she had left all of that behind her. 

The halls of James Madison were bustling with students, none of whom paid Emma any attention. She followed the signs to the administration office where she was greeted by an overly smiley woman who handed her a schedule and gave well-meaning, but incredibly vague directions to room 204. 

She was so focused on finding the room that she didn’t notice the girl standing right in front of her until she was laying on top of her on the floor. 

“Oh god, I’m so sorry, are you—” Emma’s apologies caught in her throat as she finally looked at the girl underneath her. There was a mane of curly brown hair and Disney princess brown eyes looking up at her. She was stunning. “Are you okay?” 

“Yeah, I just wasn’t looking where I was going,” the girl studied Emma’s face. “Are you new here?” 

Emma pushed herself up from her place hovering above the brunette. Their books and notebooks were scattered around the hallway, all being stepped over by students who couldn’t be bothered to help. She reached out her hand to help the girl up off the floor. “Uh— yeah, I’m Emma.” 

The girl took Emma’s hand and Emma felt something travel through her body. It wasn’t the sort of sparks that she had always read about in those stupid romance novels that Nickie would talk about. This was a warmth, unlike anything Emma had ever felt before. It traveled from their connected hands and up Emma’s body, filling it with light. It was like pure magic. She quickly let go of the girl’s hand, studying her face to try and see if she felt the same thing. If she did, the girl didn’t show it. 

“I’m Alyssa! Where are you headed?” 

Emma was lost in this girl — Alyssa’s — eyes. She didn’t hear the question until she saw Alyssa quirk an eyebrow at her. “203. Pre-calc with—”

“Brenner?” Alyssa finished the sentence with a smile. 

“Yeah.” 

“I’m headed there too,” she gestured at the papers and books strewn across the hall. “We should probably…” 

Emma looked down to see the contents of her backpack littered around them. “Shoot, I’m sorry.”

Alyssa busied herself picking up some papers that slid out of a folder. Emma dropped to her knees and gathered up as many binders, textbooks, and loose papers on the floor. They handed each other their respective school supplies. Emma tried her hardest to respect Alyssa’s privacy, but she couldn’t help but notice various sheets covered in symbols Emma had never seen before. 

“I’ll trade you,” Alyssa said with a smile in her voice. Emma’s heart dropped into her stomach when she saw what was laying on top of the binders in Alyssa’s hands. It was a piece of wood sharpened to a point — a stake. 

“Uh— yeah. Thanks.” Emma quickly grabbed the pile from the brunette and handed her the pile of papers and folders. Stuffing the stake into her backpack and covering it with her binders. “It’s for self-defense… my old school was kinda sketchy.” The lie felt weird coming out of Emma’s mouth, but she gave a shrug in hopes that it sold it a bit better. 

“So, we should head to class,” Alyssa jerked her head in the direction of the classroom in the quickly emptying halls. “Maybe you can tell me all about your sketchy school after?” 

“Y-Yeah, I’d like that,” Emma said softly, following Alyssa down the hall and into the classroom. 

The room had the standard math-themed poster saying something about how all you need to do it “add some positivity”, and the teacher’s desk set up in the front. There were a few open seats, two right in the front middle, and one or two in the back of the room. Emma felt the curious eyes of the already seated students follow her and Alyssa as they sat in the front two desks. Alyssa settled in and looked incredibly comfortable in the front of the room — Emma felt less so. Her original plan was to sit in the back of every class and relish in the anonymity, but all it took was one smile from Alyssa, and Emma knew she would follow the brunette anywhere she led.

The class came and went, with the customary “time to introduce the new kid who moved here in the middle of the first month of senior year.” Emma tried her best not to zone out while Alyssa took very detailed, color-coded notes. 

The bell rang and everyone got up from their seats and Alyssa gave Emma a smile. “If you need any help getting caught up, I have a note system that never fails, and I’d be happy to lend them to you, or we could even go over them together just so you’re sure you’re caught up, and… I’m babbling, aren’t I?” 

Emma shouldered her backpack, “just a bit. But I’d like that. I’m not really a math person. Science, give me any day, but just straight up numbers? No thank you.” 

Alyssa let out a small laugh, “well, I may need your help on the science front. How about we meet up at lunch? I normally sit outside with some friends.” 

“Yeah, I’d like that.” Emma couldn’t help but smile. There was something about Alyssa that made her feel comfortable and safe. It was like that burst of light from when they first touched was still there, growing inside of her every time they made eye contact. 

The warning bell sounded from above, causing both girls to look up. “Oh,” Alyssa looked back down sheepishly, hugging her books just a little closer to her chest. “I better get—” 

“Yeah, me too.” Emma looked down at her phone where her schedule was set as her lock screen. She figured she knew where to go, so she gave a small wave that Alyssa didn’t see and headed downstairs to try and find the science lab. 

Classes flew by, and Emma hardly noticed her stomach grumbling until everyone was talking about lunch as the bell sounded. She sighed as she walked down the halls, incredibly aware of the wide breadth of space that she was given by her peers. Everyone was looking at her, whispering behind hands and subtly pointing, she heard it all though. She rolled her shoulders back and kept walking until she hit the door that led to the courtyard where Alyssa was. 

Alyssa was beautiful under the fluorescents of the hallway, but in the sunlight, she was downright ethereal. Emma couldn’t help but smile as she approached the brunette and a few of her friends. 

“Emma! Hey!” Alyssa brightened at the sight of the blonde, she waved Emma over and scooted to make space. There were two girls sitting with her, one with long, curly black hair who looked at her curiously. The other was fashionably dressed with long, dark brown hair and an incredibly bored look on her face. “Emma, this is Shelby and Kaylee. They’re on the cheer squad with me.” 

Emma sat down next to Alyssa and reached out to shake their hands. Kaylee, the bored one, took the handshake and gave a small smile that quickly faded to a genuine look of surprise. Shelby looked at Emma’s hand like she was offering an angry cobra instead of a customary greeting. Emma retracted the hand with an awkward nod of recognition instead. 

She looked back to Alyssa, “So you have a multi-colored note-taking process _and_ you’re a cheerleader? Is there nothing Alyssa Greene can’t do?” 

Alyssa couldn’t help but laugh, and she leaned her head forward so her hair curtained her face — Emma could tell she was blushing though. 

“So, where are you from?” Shelby asked, leaning forward with her face in her hands. 

“Yes, and why are you here?” It was strange, yet endearing. Kaylee spoke plainly and looked at her like Emma was just one of a thousand Emma Nolan’s that she had met hundreds of times. Emma had never met anyone who so nonchalantly peered straight into her core like this.

“Cleveland, originally. But my parents decided they wanted to take a trip to Europe and sent me here to live with my Gran.” Emma felt weird lying to her new friends. _Well, they weren’t quite friends yet, they’d stay alive a lot longer if they kept their distance._ She thought to herself. Lying always made her uncomfortable, but it was a necessary evil to keep people, and mostly herself, safe.

“Ooooh! Europe!” Alyssa’s face lit up, “that’s so fancy.” 

Kaylee shrugged, “eh, it’s fine. It gets kinda old though.” She didn’t look up from her salad at the three, confused girls. 

“Kayles, when were you in Europe?” Shelby turned towards her friend with an incredulous look on her face.

“Yeah, and how were you there long enough for an entire continent to get boring?” Alyssa was now fully engrossed in Kaylee going on and on about how she went over the summer before she moved to Edgewater. 

Emma took their distraction as a window to try and dig her lunch out of her backpack. She shoved the stake further down into her backpack, glancing at the girls over her shoulder to make sure they didn’t see it. Shelby was now watching her with that same curious look on her face. Emma wasn’t sure that she saw the stake, so she swallowed down her nerves and pulled out her apple. 

Gran had practically begged to let her make Emma’s lunch that morning, but Emma was already running late, so she grabbed an apple and let that be that. Now, looking down at her lone-piece-of-fruit-lunch, she regretted not taking Gran’s offer. She shrugged and took a bite, leaning back and listening to the three friends talk for the rest of the lunch hour. 

There was a bell and Emma checked her schedule, two more classes, then she could go home. She threw her bag over her shoulder, but before she could get up to leave, she felt a hand on her arm. Alyssa looked at Emma’s phone and back to Emma. 

“Em, can I see your phone?” Alyssa asked. The way the sunlight was making the gold flecks in her eyes sparkle made Emma’s breath catch. 

“Uh— yeah,” Emma unlocked her phone and handed it to Alyssa, watching as the brunette swiped through her phone. It dawned on her that she gave her phone to someone she had just met. “W-wait, what are you doing with it?” 

Alyssa gave her a dazzling smile, “I’m putting my number in it so if you need any help with classes or anything you can let me know. Also, I’m going to need those notes back eventually.” 

Emma rubbed the back of her neck, “right. Yeah. Of course.” 

Alyssa handed the phone back to Emma, she saw a new contact that read Alyssa Greene with sparkle emojis on either side. “Just give me a text so I have yours too.” 

“Yeah, I will. Super quick, where’s the band hall? I have it for seventh period, and I didn’t see any signs for it in the main building.” Emma followed Alyssa’s pointed hand in the direction of a building that looked like it had seen better days. “Thanks.” She gave a small wave and headed towards the history wing for her fifth-period class, she was sure to send a quick “hi” text to Alyssa.

— — 

James Madison High School required its students to spend at least one year in a fine arts class before they were going to be inevitably defunded for sports. The only issue was that Emma’s old schools didn’t offer any fine arts classes, which meant she didn’t have any credits to transfer. 

She figured since it was already a month into the semester and she didn’t know how to play any instrument that she could march with, she’d be able to just hang out for the year.

That was until she saw the wide grin of Mr. Glickman standing in the center of the band room. 

“You must be Emma Nolan,” he wore a very colorful, patterned button-down that gave Emma a headache to look at. “I’m Mr. Glickman, but you can call me Barry, everyone does.” 

Emma held out her hand which he shook enthusiastically, “nice to meet you. Um, if I’m being honest, I only really know how to play guitar and I don’t think it would really fit the whole—” she gestured around the room where students held gleaming brass instruments, “marching vibe you have going on here.” 

Barry cocked his head to the side like he was thinking, then the excited face of a eureka moment. “How about you become my equipment manager? You won’t have to play, but you will be in charge of the storage room.”

Emma shrugged and nodded, it sounded like a good enough deal to her. 

Barry looked around at the other students, “you guys can all work on warm-ups.” There were waves of scales being played from a cacophony of instruments, and Barry motioned for Emma to follow him to the back storage room. 

“I think you should know, I don’t have any idea how to take care of these kinds of instruments,” Emma said nervously as they were walking towards the back of the band hall. “Y-you know, the shiny kinds.” 

Barry opened the door and let Emma into the storage room, clicking on the light. “You won’t have to worry about that.” He shut the door behind Emma. “Instead, what do you know about killing things?” 

Emma’s eyes adjusted to the light as she took in racks and racks of various axes and crossbows glinted in the fluorescents. “I— Uh— Excuse me?” 

Barry turned around to face Emma with a book in his hand. “I think you know.” 

The book was old and bound in a light tan leather that could have easily been human skin. Across the cover was the word “Vampyr” in blood-red. 

Emma looked up at Barry, unimpressed, “that’s all you got?” 

Barry spluttered for a second, clearly, he was hoping for a bigger reaction. Instead, he was just met with a very bored Emma. He quickly regained his composure and “Emma. You’re the Slayer. The one who fate has chosen to bestow immense powers upon to fight the vampires and demons of this world.”

“Yeah, and that never really got me anywhere good, did it?” Emma said, gesturing around her. “All those vamps and demons? They’re the reason my parents left me here. They got tired of constantly fixing-of-the-house and trying to explain away their crazy daughter to the neighbors. So they just dumped me here with Gran and _this—_ ” she tapped on the book in Barry’s hand and watched it fall to the floor with a thump. “—is the last thing that I need. I just want to be a normal kid whose chances of surviving until graduation is greater than 30%. So thanks, but no thanks” 

“But,” Barry said, crouching down and picking up the book. “Emma, this is your destiny. It’s not a coincidence that you’re here in Edgewater.” 

Emma heaved a sigh, throwing her head back to look up at the ceiling. “And why would ‘Destiny’ bring me to a one-Starbucks-town like Edgewater, Indiana?” 

Barry sat down on a crate of sheet music, “have you ever heard of a Hellmouth?” 

“No, but I have a feeling you’re going to tell me.” 

“We are literally standing on top of the center of more demonic energy than you could ever imagine. And I’m not just talking vampires. The Hellmouth attracts demons and magics that will all be after innocent blood—” 

“And only I can stop it?” Emma said, thoroughly unimpressed.

Barry clapped his hands, excited that he made this breakthrough, “exactly!” 

Emma shrugged, “sorry to let you down, but I’m not your girl. I did the whole ‘slaying’ song and dance and I can’t say that I’m looking forward to repeating that any time soon. Anyway, if it’s such a big deal that this Hellmouth is protected, why don’t you do it?” 

“Because I’m a Watcher — _your Watcher_.” He said the word like it was supposed to mean something to her. He heaved a heavy sigh and looked up to the ceiling as if he was asking for some sort of guidance. “A Watcher watches and the Slayer slays. It’s been like this for millennia. I’m here to train you and guide you, but I can’t fight them like you can.” 

There was a knock at the door that interrupted whatever Barry was going to say next. “Uh— come in.” He quickly stashed the book behind the crate and pulled down a shade to cover the weaponry. 

A meek-looking boy stuck his head into the storage room, “we’re done warming up.”

Barry gave a nod to the boy, “thanks, Jamie.” He stood up and looked at Emma as he walked out of the room, “if you can do me a favor and sort through the sheet music, that’d be a big help.”

Emma heard the muffled sounds of a march being played as she tried to not let her curiosity get the better of her. She failed. 

Emma brushed the sheet music to the side and was met with various tomes of demonology and monster encyclopedias. She flipped through the pages, intrigued by the occasional illustration of the various things that go bump in the night. The shade waved slightly as the air conditioning kicked to life, and Emma’s curiosity got the better of her yet again. 

She pulled up the shade and was met with a slew of old weaponry. But she was drawn to one thing in particular. It was a crossbow that looked like it belonged more to the medieval ages than the 21st century, but something about it felt incredibly familiar. It felt like it was hers. 

Before she could reach out for it, she felt her phone vibrate in her back pocket. A text message from Alyssa lit up the screen. 

_Hey, if you’re not doing anything after school, we all hang out at the Moonbeam diner. We can have some burgers and get you all caught up on schoolwork._

Emma smiled and sent back a text saying she’d meet her after school. She sat there for a few seconds, just looking at Alyssa’s name. Even the pixels in the shape of the letters gave Emma butterflies. She sighed and pocketed her phone with a nod and turned her attention to the shelves of weapons.

There was a stake sitting on a shelf that caught her attention. It was old and looked like it was made out of a piece of driftwood that was whittled, smoothed, and sanded to an incredibly fine point. 

Ever since Emma got her calling as the Slayer, she couldn’t find a stake that didn’t have her picking at splinters days after a patrol. But this stake was more than just a weapon, it looked like it was a piece of art made specifically for her.

She took it down from its place on the shelf and threw it into her backpack — after all, it was meant to be used by her. Emma checked her watch, and sighed; there was still half an hour left in class and the last thing she wanted to do was to start her homework. Instead, she grabbed one of the many occult books hidden in plain sight, and made herself comfortable in the far corner of the room, tucking into a chapter about demon curses. 

A few chapters later, there was a knock on the door, and Emma quickly put the book down at her side where she could easily hide it. 

“Hey, Emma,” Barry peaked his head into the room. “Class is about to end, but I already released the rest of the band and—” 

“I’ll do it.” She said plainly, cutting him off mid-sentence. 

Barry’s eyebrows shot up in confusion, “and what exactly is that?” 

“The slaying. I’ll do it.” 

He walked into the band closet and leaned against the wall, trying hard to not look overly smug or pleased with himself. “What changed your mind?” 

Emma shrugged, “I’m tired of running, and there are good people here who shouldn’t have to worry about all of this,” she turned a book around to show Barry some graphic images of the ritual virgin flaying for the Gorloch demon. 

Barry’s face broke into a smile, “Well then, training starts tomorrow at lunch.” He threw a pair of keys at her face that she easily caught, “this is your space. Feel free to use it however you want.” 

“Sounds good, I’ll see you tomorrow, Mr. Watcher-Man,” Emma said, shouldering her backpack. She checked her phone to see if Alyssa had texted her where they should meet as she exited the band hall. 

She was so engrossed in checking her messages that she ran right into Alyssa Greene for the second time that day. This time she was able to stop herself before they both ended up on the floor again. 

“Gosh, twice in one day, this better not become a pattern because I’m going to be a walking bruise,” Alyssa said with the glimmer of a joke in her voice. 

Emma couldn’t help but blush, “I was just about to text you.” 

“Well, I’m glad I could save you a message. I knew you were in band and it’d be easier if we walked from here.” 

Emma smiled as they walked towards the front of the school. The front lawn of James Madison High was filled with students waiting for their bus or ride home. There was a huddle of boys in letterman jackets watching Alyssa appreciatively as she and Emma headed towards The Moonbeam. 

They were half a block away from the school when Emma saw her Gran sitting behind the wheel of an old, blue truck — a truck that wasn’t hers. 

“Gran?” Emma called, watching as her Gran stepped out of the truck with a smile. “What’s this?” 

“Well,” she brushed her hands off on her jeans. “This is for you. I thought it’d be easier if you had your own truck, but only if you promise to help haul stuff around at home.” 

Emma nodded excitedly, knowing her Gran was talking about Hope Hill — the cemetery that she had been the groundskeeper of since Emma’s Grandpa passed away. 

“You got it, Gran.” She looked over her shoulder at Alyssa who was looking slightly awkward while the Nolans talked. “By the way, this is Alyssa. She’s helping me get caught up on school stuff.” 

“Well, any friend of Emma’s is a friend of mine,” she reached out to shake Alyssa’s hand. 

“It’s nice to meet you, Mrs. Nolan,” Alyssa said with a winsome smile. Emma completely understood why Alyssa was so popular at school, she was effortlessly likable. 

“Oh, please. Call me Betsy,” she said with a small wave of her hand. 

“Yes ma’am.” Alyssa gave a small nod. 

“Oh gosh, none of that ‘ma’am’ business!” Betsy let go of Alyssa’s hand and tossed the keys to Emma. “Now, you two girls go have some fun learning, okay? And Emma, I want you home before sundown.” 

“You got it, Gran,” Emma said, distracted by the car keys in her hand. “Do you want a ride home?” 

Betsy waved at her granddaughter, “no, I’m going to get some exercise in. I’ll see you at home, honey.” 

Emma was already half-way to the driver’s seat, “thanks Gran, love you!” 

“Love you too!” Betsy watched as Alyssa and Emma climbed into the cab of the truck and headed towards the diner. 

— — 

The Moonbeam Diner looked like it was taken out of the 1950s and plopped into modern Edgewater — well, as modern as Edgewater could get. The chrome gleamed in the afternoon light streaming through the windows as the sounds of Elvis Presley was heard just slightly over the laughter and chatter of James Madison students. 

Emma scanned the diner to try and find an open booth, but Alyssa was already tugging on her hand towards a back corner booth that was surprisingly empty.

“Thank god no one’s taken it yet!” She said as she led them past the groups of students who were too busy hanging out to pay the girls any attention.

Emma was distracted looking at their linked hands. 

Alyssa sat down and scooted to the middle of the L shaped booth and grabbed a menu while Emma slowly moved into the booth. She handed Emma the menu when she had made up her mind — which was within seconds of Emma getting comfortable in the booth. 

“What’s good here?” Emma said before she realized that it was mainly just burgers and fries on the menu.

Alyssa pulled out her binders and pencil bag as she talked, “Well, the burgers are good. I know the menu is kinda sparse, but once Angie and Sheldon get to know you, they’ll pretty much make you anything that’s greasy and delicious.” She started to pull her hair up into a ponytail that made Emma’s mouth go dry. “And the shakes and floats are to die for.” 

Emma just nodded, focusing on the menu when a tall blonde woman walked up to the table. She was wearing an old 50s style, blue waitress uniform with a white apron that looked brand new. “Heya Alyssa, and… wait, you’re new.” 

“Angie, this is Emma,” Alyssa said plainly, “Emma, this is Angie. She owns the diner.” 

“It’s a really nice place,” Emma gestured around the diner.

“Thanks, kiddo,” Angie said with a wink. “What can I get you two?” 

“Just a regular cheeseburger, no onion, some fries, and a rootbeer float.” Alyssa rattled off her order like it was second nature. 

Angie gave a nod as she wrote the order down, turning towards Emma expectantly. 

“Uh. I’ll have the same.” Emma put the menu back in its place between the ketchup and mustard. 

“Alright, I’ll get that right out to you.” Angie turned on her heel towards the service window and threw a ticket towards a man who Emma figured was Sheldon. 

Emma turned her attention back towards Alyssa who was flipping through her history notes, “didn’t expect you to be a rootbeer float kind of girl.” 

Alyssa looked up at Emma for a second, her eyes going from their normal sparkle to something far more somber. “My dad used to always get them with me when I was a kid.” 

“What happened?” Emma scooted in just a hair closer to Alyssa. 

Alyssa shrugged and gave a sniff. She looked small. “He went away on a business trip. And I guess it went well because that was ten years ago.” 

Emma reached out and put her hand on top of Alyssa’s, giving it a reassuring, comforting squeeze. “I’m sorry, Lys.” 

The corner of Alyssa’s mouth quirked up at the nickname. “It’s fine. Mom and I get along just fine. And, you know, if he wanted to come back, he would’ve — but he hasn’t so…” 

“His loss,” Emma said softly, giving her hand another squeeze. 

“Thanks.” 

They sat like that for a beat. Not talking. Just looking in each other’s eyes and sitting in the moment. Emma had only known Alyssa for less than a day, but she felt closer to her than anyone she had ever met, baring her gran. 

Angie interrupted the moment by placing the food on the table before rushing off to bus a table. 

Alyssa cleared her throat and broke their eye contact. “So, history first?” Emma nodded. “Alright, so we started with Mesopotamia.” 

— — 

Emma couldn’t sleep, which in all honesty, wasn’t a surprise. She couldn’t help but replay her afterschool tutoring session with Alyssa over and over in her head and smile. 

Then she heard her gran’s bedroom door click closed, followed closely behind by the sound of a light switch turning off. Emma held her breath as she strained to hear the sounds of Betsy’s steady breathing, and jumped out of bed when she was sure Betsy was asleep. 

She changed out of her PJs and into a pair of leggings and a sweatshirt. Emma searched through her backpack for her new stake and tucked it into her sweatshirt’s pocket, opened the window and climbed down the trellis, and landed safely onto the ground. She checked over her shoulder at her gran’s bedroom window to make sure she got out undetected.

Emma rolled her neck and jogged the few yards into the cemetery. 

Hope Hill Cemetery was huge and constantly expanding at an exponential rate. The high mortality rate of Edgewater really wasn’t a big selling point unless you worked in graves or insurance. 

The acre of headstones almost glowed in the light of the full moon as Emma walked through the cemetery. She made it to the mausoleums and checked the locks on each of them to make sure nothing fang-y could get in or out. 

Emma kept weaving in and out of headstones with one hand on her stake for half an hour and there was nothing. 

“Here vampires, come out, come out wherever you are,” she called out softly before huffing a sigh and turning back towards the house. 

That’s when she heard it. 

Someone was chanting in Latin, which Emma rolled her eyes at — it was always Latin — but headed in the direction of the voice. As she got closer to the sound, Emma could see a red light coming from one of the graves. The chanting was getting louder and the light brighter as Emma closed the distance between herself and the source of the magic. 

She could barely make out the silhouette of someone bent over a grave when something grabbed her from behind. 

Her Slayer instincts took over and Emma held on to her assailant’s arm and leaned over and flipped them over her shoulder and onto the grass. There was a cat-like growl and Emma saw the bumpy forehead and fangs of the vampire staring up at her from the ground. 

The vamp kicked-up onto their feet and swung a punch at Emma that was too fast for her to dodge. There were rings on every one of the vampire’s fingers, and one managed to catch on Emma, cutting her cheek open. 

Emma ducked under their next punch. She noticed that the punch shifted them off balance and grabbed their leg, pulling hard. The vampire fell into a painful-looking split that gave Emma the opportunity to plunge the stake into their heart. 

The vampire burst into a cloud of dust that was quickly carried away by the wind. Emma dusted herself off and took off in a jog towards the glowing headstone. 

The only issue is was that the chanting had stopped and whoever was there before was gone. The headstone was still glowing red, but the magic was quickly fading. 

“Well crap,” Emma whispered to herself.

She knelt down to inspect the area around the grave. There was an overwhelming smell of sage and a mix of ashes and white sand in some sort of circle symbol on the grass. Whoever it was, they had wiped away the symbol, but the main integrity of the image was still there. 

Emma pulled out her phone and snapped a picture of the circle. It looked like it had a maze inside of it and was nothing like Emma had seen before in her patrols or demon encounters. 

The headstone’s red glow was gone, but it shone brighter than the others around it, and there was a bouquet of lavender that looked like it had only been there for a day or two. Emma leaned back on her heels and took a minute to read the epitaph. 

**Charlotte Howe**

**Beloved Wife and Mother**

**1937-2006**

Emma took another photo of the grave and made a mental note to get Barry’s number so she could send it to him later. 

She brushed herself off and checked her phone for the time. It was a little past 2 a.m. and she decided to call it a night so she could get at least a few hours of sleep. She wiped her cheek and tried not to look at the amount of blood on her sleeve as she climbed up the trellis into her room. 

She changed back into her PJs and fell asleep as soon as her head hit her pillow. 

  
  



	2. A Witch Hunt

Emma weaved through headstones at a breakneck pace. Her heart was pounding in her ears, but she kept running, only turning back to see an army of vampires chasing her. The only light she had was from a blood-red moon. 

She didn’t see the arm reaching out from the ground, clawing itself from a freshly covered grave. The hand wrapped around her ankle, pulling Emma down to the ground and using Emma as an anchor to pull themselves up out of the grave. She watched in horror, desperately searching for something to use as a weapon, as Alyssa Greene emerged from the ground, covered in blood and caked in dirt. 

Even in her current state, she took Emma’s breath away as she crawled towards Emma with a sly smile playing on her lips. Emma’s heartbeat sped up as Alyssa straddled her, pulling her close, so their noses were almost touching. 

Just as Emma leaned in to close the distance between them, Alyssa’s face changed. Those big brown eyes turned a bright yellow. Her face warped from beautiful and smooth to a vampire game face. She resembled more of a snarling puma than she did Alyssa Greene. 

Adrenaline spiked through Emma’s body as Alyssa pinned her down to the ground and grazed her lips down Emma’s neck. She gave Emma a dark grin before kissing the spot where Emma’s pulse raced. Teeth replaced lips as she bit into Emma’s jugular. 

It hurt for a second, as fangs ripped into her neck, but it was quickly replaced with a dizzy headiness as she lost more and more blood. 

Blackness started to creep into Emma’s field of vision. The last thing she saw as her world went black was Barry, Gran, Shelby, and Kaylee, all looking down at her, disappointed, with crosses and stakes in hand. 

Emma woke up to the sound of her alarm, covered in sweat, and gasping for air.

— — —

Emma walked down the halls towards math class; her dream flashed through her head with every step. Alyssa’s face broke into an excited smile when Emma walked into the classroom and took her seat next to the brunette. 

“Hey!” Alyssa angled herself in her seat to see Emma better next to her. “How was your night?” 

“Fine,” Emma shrugged as she pulled out her notebook along with the notes Alyssa had given her the day before and handed them to her. “Here’s these back.” She hadn’t had the chance to go over them, but she knew deep down it was dangerous to get too close to anyone. There was also the thought that she would be responsible for Alyssa turning into the vampire that she saw in her dream — and she couldn’t live with herself if she was the reason Alyssa died. 

It was better this way. 

She had never heard of any stories about the Slayer and her friends anyway. 

“Oh, wow, you’re already done?” Alyssa looked at Emma, clearly impressed, and it made Emma’s heart twinge. 

Emma shrugged, trying to be as aloof as possible. “Yeah, it wasn’t hard.” 

“Well, that’s great!” Alyssa didn’t quite pick up Emma’s detachedness and leaned forward with a big smile like she was going to tell Emma something funny when she noticed something that made her eyes get wide. “What happened to your face?” 

Emma’s hand shot up to cover the cut she got the night before. “Uh, nothing. I think I just scratched myself in my sleep.” She hoped that Alyssa didn’t see straight through the lie. 

“Sheesh,” Alyssa gently pulled Emma’s hand away and traced the skin right above the cut, “it doesn’t look like you have the sorta nails to do this kind of damage.” Alyssa dropped her hand down to Emma’s and looked at her nails. 

She jerked her hand away from Alyssa’s, “I cut them this morning.” Emma didn’t know how to end the conversation or stop her heart from fluttering at the feeling of Alyssa’s fingers tracing her cheek, so she pulled out her phone and focused intently on her text messages from her Gran. 

She saw Alyssa physically deflate in her peripheral. The warmth that she had when Emma walked into the room was replaced with a mix of confusion and hurt. Emma pushed down the hurt that she felt at that look, and focused on just getting to lunch. 

Still, it was hard not to sneak looks at Alyssa. Especially since her Slayer senses made the back of Emma’s neck prickle every time, Alyssa glanced in her direction. 

Classes came and went. Emma kept her head down in the halls so she wouldn’t see Alyssa, and by lunchtime, she made a beeline for the band hall. She passed by the spot where Shelby, Kaylee, and Alyssa were eating lunch and couldn’t avoid their eyes. Kaylee watched her curiously, Shelby angrily. Alyssa stared at her sandwich the entire time Emma was in her line of sight. 

Emma gave a small smile to Shelby, whose eyes narrowed. Emma ducked into the band hall, where Barry was waiting for her with a grin. 

“Think fast,” he said with glee as a wooden stake was hurled straight at Emma’s head. 

Everything seemingly went into slow motion as Emma watched the sharpened point of the stake come closer and closer to her face. It was a hair away from shattering her glasses when she snatched it out of the air and tossed it back to Barry. 

“Gotta be faster than that.” 

He chuckled, “apparently, I do.” Barry grabbed his lunch and motioned for Emma to sit. “What happened during patrol?” 

“Dusted a vamp, saw some sort of magic spell thing happen, went to bed.” Emma tried her best to talk around her sandwich. 

Barry perked up, “what kind of spell?” 

“I don’t know,” Emma shrugged. “There was some light and chanting—” 

“Latin?” 

She nodded, “but before I could see who it was, a vamp showed up, and that sorta became the priority. By the time I was able to make it to the grave, whoever it was, disappeared. I got a picture of it through.” She pulled out her phone and handed it to Barry, who flipped through the photos. 

“Give me one minute,” he said softly after studying one of the pictures and heading to the closet. Emma curiously followed close behind. “This symbol, it’s not all there, but it’s…” he spoke to himself as he flipped through a dusty book."

“It’s…” Emma drew the word out to try and figure out what her watcher was leading to. 

Barry looked up from Emma excitedly, “I need to know everything. Please, sit down.” He motioned to the chairs out of the closet and sat across from Emma, pulling a music stand to write notes. 

“Is the symbol not enough?” Emma asked uncertainly. 

Barry shook his head, “it can be, but if I know everything that happened, then we can better figure out why they’re conjuring using Hecate’s power.” 

Emma gave a confused look for a moment but eventually nodded, “uh, okay. Ask away.” 

“How did the air feel?” Barry asked, not looking up from his notes. 

“Um, normal, I guess? There was a breeze, but if that was just normal or magic, I don’t know.” 

“Were there any smells?” 

“Grass, vamp dust, some sort of incense.” Emma focused on the moment she noticed the slight change in the air the night before. “It was woody, kinda sweet, a little lemon-y.” 

Barry nodded and muttered some things to himself, “frankincense.” 

“Sure…”    


“Anything else?” He glanced up from his music stand, and Emma shook her head no. 

“Do you know what it was? Who’s Hecate?” Emma leaned forward in her seat, focused on Barry. 

“She’s the Greek goddess of magic and spells. When a witch wants to focus their spellcasting, they can do it through many different sources of power — Hecate is the most well-known.” He said, handing over the book to Emma. 

The pages had the same symbol that Emma found on the grave — only this time fully intact. Surrounding the circle-symbol were different spells for spirit conjuring and energy focusing instructions. 

“So whoever this was,” Emma said as she scanned the page, “they were trying to summon a spirit?” 

Barry hummed, “it seems like Edgewater has a witch.” 

There was the sound of the main door to the band room closing and footsteps running away from the room. Emma’s body spiked with adrenaline as she jumped to her feet to chase down whoever the eavesdropper was. She just managed to make out a flash of dark hair as they turned the corner out of sight. 

Barry put his hand on Emma’s arm to hold her back, “don’t bother.” 

“But they could have heard everything. What if they go tell someone?” Emma said, moving closer and closer to the door. 

“Emma, we live on a Hellmouth.” Barry was surprisingly calm as he explained this to Emma, “most of the people here have lived here their entire lives. If they haven’t figured out that there are magical and demonic forces at play, I don’t think they ever will.” 

Emma gestured at the door, wanting nothing more than to run out of the room. “But they could tell someone, and it’ll all make sense then!” 

Barry gave a small laugh and shook his head again, “kiddo, one teenager talking about witches won’t be taken too seriously, trust me.” 

Emma looked at the door and back at Barry. She took a moment to mull over what Barry was saying, but eventually shrugged, figured that the watcher knew best. She grabbed her water bottle from her backpack and took a swig as she sat back in her chair across from Barry. 

“If it’s alright with you, I’d like to go patrolling with you tonight. If this is the spell that I think it is, it’s a two-night deal.” He said, pulling together his pages of scribbled notes. “Plus, I have to see how you handle yourself in the field. Can’t train you if I don’t know what I’m working with.” 

Emma shrugged, figuring that he wouldn’t take no for an answer. “I’ll meet you at the entrance to the cemetery at 11. Gran’s usually asleep by then.” 

Barry wrote the time down on his notes and looked up, “do you want me to bring any other weapons for you? I saw that you took Mr. Pointy.” 

Emma froze for a moment and stared at Barry. “Mr. Pointy?” She tried hard not to laugh but failed horribly. 

“Stop laughing!” Barry tried to quiet Emma, who was wheezing with laughter. She kept repeating the name through gasps for air, which made her laugh harder. “I didn’t name it that. It belonged to the slayer before you.” 

Emma’s laugh got caught in her throat, “how old was she?” 

“She was called young. I think she was around 13,” Barry’s voice was uncharacteristically quiet. “She died at 15.”

“How?” 

Barry shifted his weight back and forth between his feet. Emma could see that he wasn’t ready to have this conversation yet, but she had to know. “She tried to take out a nest of vampires alone. They were ready for her.” He took a deep breath, Emma saw he was shaking slightly. “Her watcher didn’t find a lot left of the body when he went looking for her the next morning.” 

“And then I was called,” Emma said under her breath. 

“And then you were called,” he echoed. 

“Barry?” Emma hated how small she sounded. “How old do slayers get?” 

She could see Barry struggle to find the words. “Some of the older slayers make it to their early 30s. But most don’t reach 25.” 

Emma stood there, numb. “Did they have friends?” 

“The Watcher Diaries never mention any,” he shrugged.

The warning bell chimed above their conversation, pulling Emma out of her mental fog. She grabbed her bag and gave a half-hearted smile to Barry as she left the room. As she rushed to her class, she felt a pair of eyes burning the back of her neck. She turned and saw Kaylee watching her with a grim face. 

— — — 

Emma leaned against the stone pillars at the entrance gate to Hope Hill Cemetery, waiting for Barry. She absentmindedly flipped Mr. Pointy as she watched for her Watcher.

She heard him coming before he came into sight. It sounded like Barry was doing a tap routine on the sidewalk. Emma pushed off of the pillar as Barry approached. “Took you long enough.” 

“I’m only—” he checked his watch and looked up, sheepishly, “fifteen minutes late.” 

Emma hummed in response and walked into the cemetery, Barry followed close behind. 

They walked for a while in silence. Emma listened intently to their surroundings, and Barry jumped at the slightest breeze.

“Have you ever patrolled before?” Emma asked after Barry yelped when she stopped to listen to the bushes to her right. 

“No. The Watcher’s Council made sure that we can train our slayer and fight if absolutely need be, but that was a while ago.” Barry tapped his stomach as his eyes darted around the general area. 

“Well, today may be your lucky day,” Emma pulled out her stake as they came across a freshly dug grave. “I checked Gran’s appointment book and this was the only burial today. So, if this guy’s a vampire, we’ll be the first to know.” 

“Is— is this by the grave from last night?” Barry asked, sitting down and using a headstone as a backrest. “The one with the magic?”

Emma looked around to gain her bearings amongst the rows of headstones. There was a pile of dust that upon closer inspection, was the remains of the vampire. “Yeah, this is what’s left of the guy who gave me this,” she went to touch at the cut on her cheek that had healed entirely since this morning. 

“Slayer healing,” Barry said simply as he cautiously looked around the graves. “You’re still relatively new to your powers, so they will take some time to kick in. But cuts and scrapes like that should only take a few hours to heal up.” 

Emma rubbed her cheek before pointing past Barry where there was a gentle red glow lighting up the night. “Looks like we found our witch.” 

Her cautious walk towards the glow turned into a full out sprint when a scream ripped through the night. 

Emma skidded to a halt at the Howe grave. There was the same red light that she had seen the night before, but the symbol was intact on the ground, radiating light. However, Emma was far more focused on the person being pinned to the ground by an overly-muscled vampire. 

“The boss wants you alive witch,” Emma heard him chuckle as she looked for some way to get the high ground. “But, he won’t mind if I have just a little taste.”

Emma climbed onto a white granite headstone and launched herself on top of the vamp. Her stake drove into his back, hitting the heart. “The bigger they are, the harder they—” She felt him turn to dust underneath her, dropping her on top of the witch. “Damn it, it’s quip, stake, dust. Quip. Stake. Dust” She repeated the list a few times under her breath.

She managed to catch herself with her forearms on either side of the girl’s head and opened her eyes to a familiar sight — face-to-face with a startled Alyssa Greene. 

“Emma? What are you doing here?” Alyssa said, surprised. Emma pushed up off of the grass and reached a hand out to help Alyssa to her feet. Then Alyssa’s expression changed into pure panic. “Oh my god, Emma, you just killed someone. Oh god. You just stabbed him right in the back. Oh god. You  _ killed _ him. You—” 

Emma caught Alyssa’s face in her hands, gently making her look up into her eyes. “Alyssa, I need you to breathe. Okay? Just breathe, and I’ll explain everything.” 

Her mind was scrambling to put everything together, hazy from the rush of adrenaline. Right as she was about to try and explain why a man just turned to dust, there were sounds of a struggle and someone yelling for help. “Shit. That’s Barry.” 

Alyssa’s head whipped up from her focus on the Howe grave, “the band teacher?” 

Emma didn’t answer her, far more focused on helping her Watcher. She did hear the sounds of Alyssa following her as Emma came across a duo of vampires cornering Barry against a crypt.

Emma grabbed the closest vamp by their jacket and threw them against a tree. She searched her pockets for a stake, and there was a sickening moment of realization that even if she did beat these vampires off, she had no way to kill them. 

She cursed under her breath and managed to grab the biggest vampire, who was clad in a leather jacket and a bandana wrapped around his head, by the arm to stop him from punching Barry across the face. He looked surprised at the deceivingly strong teenager who pulled him away from Barry. 

“You got a stake?” Emma called to Barry as she ducked under a punch and kicked the vamp in the stomach. 

“They’re in my bag over by the—” Barry’s sentence got cut off by a sucker punch to the stomach from the smaller vampire that had recovered from being shoved against a tree. 

Emma’s eyes desperately scanned the area to try and find Barry’s bag, but wherever it was, it was out of sight and too far to be useful. She managed to flip the biker vampire onto his back with a painful sounding thud and ran to the tree. 

She pulled at the lowest bough and managed to snap a small part of the branch and rammed it through the heart of of the small vampire who was trying to reach Barry’s jugular. 

Emma felt the bark from her improvised stake cutting into her hands. She swallowed down the pain to turn and face the biker vampire looking at her with ravenous glee. 

“Come on, little girl, let’s see if you can really take on Roy.” He was far too smug for someone who just watched his buddy get branch-ed. 

“Third person?” Emma let out a breathy laugh, “really?” 

She thrust the branch towards Roy’s chest. Her eyes got big as she felt him catch it in a fist and push it back at her, hitting Emma in the chin. 

Emma felt the white-hot pain of her skin splitting open against the jagged edges of the wood. Roy tore the branch out of her hands and brandished it like a baseball bat. 

“I’m going to have a good time tearing you to shreds,” he chuckled as he brought the branch down at Emma’s head. 

She rolled out of the way and looked back at Barry who was running to his bag. 

Roy tried to grab for Emma, who slapped his hand out of the way. “Looks like it’s just you and me.” 

“God, could you be any creepier?” Emma scoffed as she ducked under the branch that swung at her head. It was clear she wouldn’t be able to get the branch back, which meant she either had to find another way to get a shard of wood through his heart or behead him. 

“Emma!” Alyssa flew through the air and landed on Roy’s back with Mr. Pointy in her hand. 

Roy was so distracted by the girl clinging to his back and hitting him in the head that he didn’t notice the stake passed from Alyssa to Emma. Emma plunged the stake into his chest and threw Mr. Pointy to the side. 

Roy burst into a cloud of dust, and Emma jumped forward to catch Alyssa. 

They stood there for a moment, trying hard to catch their breath. Emma was holding Alyssa in a bridal carry. She could feel Alyssa’s heart racing in her chest. 

“So, what just happened?” Alyssa asked, looking down at the spot where Roy had stood not even a minute ago. 

Emma let Alyssa down and moved to rub her chin and felt blood cover her hand. “Uh—” 

“Emma!” Barry bounded down the row of graves to where Emma was standing, “did you find the Wit— Oh! Hi — uh— Alyssa.” 

“Hey, Mr. Glickman.” Alyssa gave an awkward wave. 

Barry’s face went blank as he tried to figure out how to take back what he said, “uh — did you find the... sandwich, Emma?” 

Emma nodded, amused, and pointed at Alyssa. “It’s fine. She’s the one.” 

He looked between the girls, taken aback. “Oh! Well, if that’s the case, Alyssa, what were you doing exactly?” 

There was a moment of realization and panic as Alyssa remembered her interrupted spell. “Oh, god.” She took off in a run back to the Howe grave with Emma and Barry closely behind. 

Alyssa slid to her knees and put her hands on the grass. The grave was glowing with residual magic that was quickly fading.

“Can you fix it?” Emma asked, not knowing what else to say. 

Alyssa kept her eyes on the ground and shook her head. “I just wanted to talk to her one more time, but I guess not.” She scooted forward to the foot of the marble headstone and traced the letters with her finger. “Grandma always gave the best advice and I— I could really use some right now.” 

Barry put his hand on Alyssa’s shoulder, “I’m sorry, Alyssa.” 

She just shrugged and wiped at her eyes with her sleeve. “It’s fine. It was a long shot anyway.” Alyssa turned over her shoulder to look at Emma. “Are you going to tell me why those guys got all dusty?” 

Emma started to talk but was cut off by Barry. “How about you meet us tomorrow in the band hall during lunch? Everything makes a little bit more sense in the bright light of day.” He then took Emma’s face in his hands and inspected her chin. “It looks like this needs to be patched up.” 

“It’s going to heal normal, right?” Emma asked as well as she could while her jaw was being held. 

“If you sleep tonight and keep this on, yeah.” He pulled a tube of a foul-smelling cream out of his bag and spread it on a piece of gauze that he taped to her face. “Tomorrow it should look like nothing happened at all, maybe a little red, but that’s better than this.” 

“Well, it’s a good thing that I shower in the mornings, huh?” Emma gave a small smile that made her realize just how badly her chin was throbbing. “Alyssa, do you need me to walk you home?” 

Alyssa shook her head, “I don’t live far, and I’m a fast runner.” 

Barry rustled around in his bag, pulling out a crucifix and handed it to Alyssa. “Take this and do not stop walking until you get home, okay?” 

Alyssa moved to pack up her various candles and crystals strategically placed around her grandma’s grave. She gave the cross a small shake, “tomorrow at lunch?” 

Both Barry and Emma nodded and watched as she walked towards the front of the cemetery. 

“Barry, I—” 

“Nope. You are going to bed. We’ll talk tomorrow.” He pointed at her house, “it’s going to be fine. Get some sleep, kiddo.” 

“Night, Barry.” 

“Goodnight, Emma.” 

Emma climbed up the rose trellis and changed into her pajamas as quietly as possible. She laid down and stared at the ceiling, smiling to herself just a little. 

And for the first time since she became the Slayer. Emma Nolan was hopeful. 


	3. Halloween

“So, you’re telling me that Emma has superpowers?” Alyssa asked, sitting crisscrossed on the band room floor and looking up at Barry’s PowerPoint presentation about ‘All Things Slayer.’ 

Emma had to admit it was a pretty good PowerPoint. Barry had added music and a poorly animated segment about the different ways to kill a vampire that was far better than anything Emma could’ve done. 

Barry looked at the screen and back at Emma and Alyssa, passing a popcorn bag that Barry let them make in his microwave between each other. “Pretty much, yeah.” 

“Cool,” Alyssa shrugged and wiped off the popcorn grease on her jeans, “so how can I help?” 

Both Barry and Emma froze. Their eyes darted to each other in a panic. 

“Well, um,” Barry was at a loss for words, which didn’t happen often. “You know how I read you that Slayer thesis statement?” 

Alyssa nodded. 

“It’s she  _ alone _ will wield the strength and skill to stand against the vampires, demons, and the Forces of Darkness.” He paused to see if it dawned on the brunette. “She alone.”

“I know. Emma has the natural ability, but it doesn’t say anywhere that she can’t have help.” Alyssa scanned her notes that she took during the presentation, “I have magic. Barry, you can train me. Please, I want to help.” 

Emma immediately felt uncomfortable with the thought of Alyssa on patrols and risking her life every night. “Alyssa, I don’t know…” She said softly. 

Alyssa’s mind was already made up. Emma could see the resolve in her eyes when she turned to face her. “Last night, you probably would have died without me. I can do this. I just need some training. Emma, you’re the only line of defense this town has against getting swallowed up by whatever this Hellmouth thing does, but it doesn’t just have to be you and Barry.” 

The room was silent as Barry and Emma thought it through. Emma rubbed where her chin had been split open the night before and saw Alyssa’s point. 

“Fine.” Emma got to her feet and offered a hand to help Alyssa up. “But you don’t go into the field until Barry says you’re ready, deal?” 

Alyssa shook their conjoined hands, “deal.” She turned to look at Barry, “what’s first?” 

Training with Alyssa became as natural as breathing. 

They had quickly developed a schedule between school, slaying, training, and Alyssa’s various extracurriculars. Lunchtime was spent on hand-to-hand combat with demonology and magic lessons every other day. After school meant going on a run around the track until the girls got hungry, they would visit the Moonbeam to do homework over burgers and rootbeer floats.

In true Hellmouth fashion, the football team had too many unexplained deaths and disappearances, which meant that it was canceled for the season, including cheer. So, Alyssa’s after school life was now dedicated to her training. 

Shelby and Kaylee eventually joined the duo at the Moonbeam. Emma liked getting to know Alyssa’s friends better, but part of her wished that it could go back to just the two of them. But there were moments when Kaylee would go off on how they’d “never believe that so-and-so did such-and-such,” and Alyssa would give Emma this look that would make Emma feel like they were the only two people in the world. 

As Kaylee and Shelby talked about a history project, Emma and Alyssa got stuck in that look. Emma was so entranced that she didn’t notice leaning forward and brushing away some remnant foam from Alyssa’s float on the side of her mouth. 

Being this close to Alyssa’s lips, even if it was just her thumb, was intoxicating for Emma. She noticed Alyssa’s eyes dilate, and her tongue just barely peeked out to where Emma’s thumb was seconds before. 

Emma’s heart stuttered in her chest. However, she was pulled out of it by Kaylee, turning to address the table. 

“So, Nick’s Halloween party is going to be insane this year. He told me last night his dad’s letting him use one of the warehouses on the edge of town,” she babbled excitedly, gesturing with a french fry. “There’s going to be a band, and he’s already stockpiling liquor. It’s going to be amazing.” 

Shelby looked up from her grilled cheese, “wait — last night? You two were together last night?” 

Kaylee nodded proudly, “mhmm. We both needed something to do since football got canceled.”

“Oh…” Shelby shifted uncomfortably in the booth. Kaylee didn’t notice, but Emma did. 

“You’re all coming, right?” Kaylee pulled out puppy dog eyes that were not necessary for anyone at the table. 

Emma wanted nothing more than to say yes. She hadn’t felt like a  _ normal _ teenager since she became the Slayer, and a crazy party was exactly what the doctor ordered. 

Alyssa spoke up first, nudging a few fries around on her plate. “I don’t know. It all depends on if my mom says I can.” 

Kaylee groaned and threw her head back to look at the ceiling, “she goes to that thing every year at the Taproom, right?” 

“Yeah, after the trick-or-treaters, but she says that’s for work, and she has to make an appearance.” 

“Getting drunk on half-priced theme drinks doesn’t sound like work to me.” Kaylee half-sang before taking a long sip of her diet coke like she just proved a point.

Emma was lost, “wait, all the parents go out drinking? Isn’t that kinda risky?”

Kaylee waved her off, “it’s Dee Dee’s idea. For some reason, Halloween is the only night of the year all the normal, crazy shit stops, and people just have fun.”

Emma shot a look that was equal parts concerned and confused at Alyssa, who just shrugged. 

“Are you gonna come, Emma?” Kaylee asked. 

“I think I have to ask Gran first,”  _ and Barry _ , she added mentally.

— — — 

“I think a party would be great for you!” Barry said, clapping excitedly at the thought of Emma having fun in a non-Slayer setting for once. “You’re always working — go be a kid for a night.” 

Emma stood in front of her watcher baffled. “But, won’t Halloween be all big on the demon activity? Like, that’s the whole point of the holiday.” 

“For humans,” he added. “The real demons just stay in for the night. I think there’ve been too many stupid mistakes, so it’s all quiet on the slaying front.”

“Well, if you’re sure,” Emma said, still uncertain about not patrolling. She pulled out her phone and sent Gran a quick text to ask about going. “Crap. I have to figure out a costume, don’t I?” 

Alyssa walked up to the two of them, finished with her meditation and crystal cleaning for the day. “Do you think you can get a suit?” 

— — — 

Emma stood in front of the mirror for the sixth time since she put on her suit jacket. She checked her hair from every angle to make sure that the gelled back look didn’t make her look stupid, and took a breath. She had to admit — she looked damn good in pinstripes. 

“Gran?” She called down to the kitchen as she made her way down the stairs. “Gran? Are you sure I look okay?” 

Betsy looked up from her cauldron full of candy with a smile in her eyes. “Of course, honey. You look completely dashing.” 

Emma let out a breath of relief. How Gran always knew the right thing to say to calm her down never failed to amaze her. “You’re going to that thing at the Taproom tonight, right?”

Betsy hummed in response, “yes, and I’ll be back before 1 a.m.” 

“And if you need a ride, you’ll call me?” 

“Emma, I think I should be asking you that question.” She said with a chuckle. 

“Nah, I don’t drink. I don’t like not being in full control of myself.” 

“And it’s illegal,” Betsy added. 

“And it’s illegal,” she echoed with a chuckle. 

Betsy pressed a kiss onto the top of Emma’s head, “go and have fun, sweetie. I’ll see you later tonight.” 

“Love you, Gran. Please be safe.” Emma felt uneasy at the thought of her Gran out at night, but she reminded herself that she had nothing to worry about. 

“I always am,” Betsy said with a laugh as Emma left the house and drove to the warehouse district on the edge of town. 

She jumped out of the truck and slid her keys into her pocket, following the rhythmic pounding of the bass towards a decorated warehouse. Emma gave a small wave to Nick, who gave a “sup” and a nod in her direction. There wasn’t any sign of Alyssa until she saw a flash of straightened brown hair flip around on the dance floor. 

Emma passed a group of boys emptying bottle after bottle into a trashcan. She managed to weave her way through the group of kids dancing to whatever was on Nick’s playlist that was booming out of the speakers. 

“Hey, Lys—” Emma’s words got stuck in her throat as she took in the sight of Alyssa in a tight, floor-length dress with a deep cut v. 

“Emma! I was so worried you wouldn’t be able to find me!” Alyssa said into Emma’s ear as she danced to the beat. Emma felt a hot breath on her ear and neck that made her knees go weak. 

“I’ll always find you,” Emma said softly. 

Alyssa didn’t seem to hear her and grabbed at the lapels of Emma’s suit before brushing something off of her shoulder. “You look amazing. Who knew you could pull off a suit.” 

Emma blushed at the compliment and managed to get her wits about her enough to manage to get a sentence out. “Thanks. It was my Grandpa’s. Gran did some quick tailoring. You look — Wow.” 

Kaylee appeared out of nowhere in a Little Red Riding Hood costume that was closer to lingerie than an actual outfit. “Look at you two in a couple’s costume!” She hiccuped, “do you have anything to tell me?”

Emma went red in the face and realized that they were the only people in a couple’s costume who weren’t a couple. “Uh— no. We’re just friends. It was kinda last minute for me.” 

Alyssa deflated a little next to Emma but quickly regained her composure. “I was planning on Morticia anyways. I covered most of it with pilgrim accessories to get it past Mom. Emma needed an idea, so I told her to be my Gomez.” 

Kaylee looked amused at their answers and hummed, “If you insist. I’m going to get some punch. Lys?” 

Alyssa looked at Emma, who gestured for her to go with Kaylee. She left the dance floor and watched as the band started to set up for their set. 

Emma had no idea where Nick found this band, but she was entranced. It was four very attractive people who almost shimmered in the light. There was one woman, Emma figured she was the frontman, whose dark hair looked like it was blowing in the wind even when she was standing still. The guitar player, bass player, and drummer were all guys, and Emma had to admit, they were some of the most attractive men she had ever seen.

The band took the stage to applause, and from the first chord, Emma was addicted. Everyone was dancing to the music in their own way. Some kids started a mosh pit in the front, while others were slow dancing. 

Across the way, Emma made eye contact with Alyssa, who quickly downed her drink and walked onto the dance floor. Emma found herself drawn to the brunette, almost floating past the other dancing teens until she was face-to-face with Alyssa. 

They started moving to the beat of the song, just enjoying dancing near each other. But that quickly changed. It was as if the music pulled them closer and closer to each other until Alyssa looped her hands around Emma’s neck, and Emma rested hers on Alyssa’s waist. 

Every beat drew the two girls into each other. They both leaned in, close enough to kiss, every fiber of Emma’s being was begging her to close the distance. So, she did. 

The second their lips touched was pure magic. It was like everything dark, evil, and wrong with the world didn’t exist or matter anymore because Alyssa Greene was kissing her the way Emma had only dreamed of before. 

Emma pulled away to try and catch her breath and slow down her racing heartbeat, but that was interrupted by another kiss. And another one. And another one. 

The music was pulsing through the Slayer’s veins, and she felt Alyssa’s hand travel lower and lower down her back until they were grabbing at her hips, pulling Emma in closer. 

Emma was snapped out of her Alyssa induced haze when she felt Alyssa slip her hands into Emma’s back pockets. “Hands!” She gasped and pulled away from the brunette. 

As much as she hoped something like this would happen, something felt off. The Alyssa Greene that she knew and was falling for was the last person to grab her like that — at least not right away. Things were becoming too much way too soon, and she stopped to look around the room. 

Almost everyone had paired off and playing tonsil hockey. Layers and accessories were being removed and thrown every which way. Across the room was a panicked looking Shelby standing by the trash can punch. 

Emma booked it from the dance floor towards Shelby, Alyssa trailing close behind. 

“What’s happening?” Shelby was standing in a puddle of punch that she had dropped. 

Emma felt Alyssa wrap her arms around her, hugging her from behind and pressing kisses to her neck that were  _ very _ distracting. “I don’t know.” 

“It’s like everyone just got super horny, and now we’re like 10 minutes away from a senior class orgy.” Shelby scanned the room and flushed red at some of the things her peers were doing. 

“Why aren’t you all —” Emma’s train of thought was broken when Alyssa pulled her earlobe between her teeth. “Jesus H. Christ! Alyssa, I need you to stop that.” 

Shelby looked back down at her feet and mumbled something.

“What?” Emma was almost yelling now, “dammit, is the music getting louder?” 

“Because Kaylee’s over there with Nick, and she’s the only person…”

Realization flooded over Emma, “oh. I’m sorry, Shel.” 

She shrugged, “it’s fine. How do we fix this?” Shelby gestured towards the dance floor full of horny teens. 

“I don’t know, but I know someone who does.” Emma whipped out her phone. “Hey, Barry. I have a super random question.” 

Shelby’s head cocked to the side, and she mouthed, “the band teacher?” Emma waved her hand before plugging her other ear to hear her watcher better. The lust-filled haze that she had been feeling cleared up, just a smidge at the muffled noise. 

Barry was talking over the sounds of glasses clinking and ‘The Monster Mash’ in the background. “I swear to all things holy if you’re out patrolling…”

“No, no, no, I’m not. I’m at the party. It’s just— Well….” She trailed off, uncomfortable at having to tell Barry that she had wound up in a magically induced, soon-to-be orgy.

Shelby snatched the phone from Emma’s hand and yelled into the receiver, “everyone’s acting all weird. Sexually.” She nodded a few times and flashed a confused look at Emma, who was busy trying to keep Alyssa’s hands from traveling too far up or down from their place on her waist. Shelby hung the phone up and pointed it at Emma, “why the fuck did he tell me to find and kill a succubus?” 

Emma froze. Her mind was utterly blank. “Uhhh. What?” 

“He told me to find and kill a succubus, and I need to know what’s going on before I kill anything.” She yelled over the music. “For example: why do you have the band teacher’s phone number? Why did you call him about this? Why was he so casual about killing something? And why does Alyssa have sparkles coming out of her hands?” 

Emma looked down, and sure enough, Alyssa’s hands were putting on a mini Fourth of July fireworks. She looked back at Alyssa, who smiled and said, “this is how my heart feels when I think about you.” 

Emma swallowed down the butterflies that had erupted in her stomach for what felt like the tenth time that evening and turned to Shelby. “I’m a Vampire Slayer. Barry is like my mentor. I kill demons almost every night. And Alyssa’s—”

“I’m a witch,” Alyssa pipped up proudly behind Emma. “I’m a witch, and I think I’m kinda gay.” 

Shelby was quiet for a moment as she digested the barrage of information. “Well then, what’s a succubus, and how do we kill them?” 

“They feed off of sexual energy,” Alyssa shrugged as if it was common knowledge.

“And a high school Halloween party would be like an all-you-can-eat buffet.” Shelby scanned the crowd, “well, who’s here that we don’t know? Everyone’s in costumes and masks.” 

“I don’t know, but I have stuff in the truck so we can do the—” Emma made a violent motion with her hands. She, Shelby, and Alyssa turned towards the big sliding doors they walked through earlier that night. 

They were so focused on getting to the parking lot that they didn’t notice the music drop out. Emma almost fell backward as Alyssa froze in her place and pulled on Emma’s shoulders. Every single person in the warehouse was staring at the trio like they were covered head-to-toe in blood. 

“Wait. You can’t leave yet.” The hoard of students said as the band looked at them ravenously. 

The four attractive band members were slowly morphing into their true demonic forms. Their fingers were far too long and pointed, and one smug smile from the lead singer showed rows of sharp teeth. All the color in their skin had faded away to a stark white that glowed in the stage lights. 

Emma looked around for any loose item that she could use as a weapon, but there was nothing. She looked back at Shelby and whispered, “run.” 

Both girls took off in different directions, and the formerly still hoard of horny students sprung into action, chasing down the girls. Alyssa stood right where they had left her as she watched the party-goers split just before they ran into her. 

There was nothing loose around for Emma to use as a weapon except for some copper piping along the walls. She grabbed at one and pulled hard, ripping it away from the wall. One of the football players dressed up as a shirtless Luigi lunged at her, forcing her to roll away. 

The number one rule for the night was, “don’t hurt the brainwashed high schoolers.” Sure, she made the rule at that moment, but a rule’s a rule, and that one was as good as any. She could see Shelby being chased around the warehouse like she was in a demented PacMan game, but she didn’t know how to help her at the moment. So, Emma did what she knew best and charged the demons. 

The singer-demon made a “come hither” motion with a clawed finger to Emma with a hungry smile. Emma took a running leap onto the stage and was automatically slashed at by the guitar player. She kicked him off of the stage and focused on the singer. 

She was clearly the strongest out of the four, the ringleader of this group, and Emma figured that the others would be easy work if she got her taken out first. She wielded the pipe like a baseball bat, swinging straight for the head. 

The succubus grabbed it and pulled hard. Emma didn’t let her grip loosen though, using the succubus’s strength to power a kick to the demon’s stomach. The singer doubled over in pain, and Emma took the opportunity to give it the classic pipe-to-the-back-of-the-head. There was a sickening thunk, and the singer dissolved into a dark red mist. 

“Well, good to know that’s what they do,” Emma muttered to herself, grateful she didn’t have to find a way to dispose of four bodies. 

Her train of thought was cut short as she felt claws tear through the back of her suit, and she was grabbed by the guitar player who had made his way back on stage with the help of the teenagers surrounding the stage. Out of nowhere, Shelby came flying onto the stage, albeit screaming the entire way. 

She looked at Emma, out of breath, and in a panic, “what do I do?” 

Emma tossed her the pipe, “hit them. Hard.” 

Shelby caught it and looked at the pipe like it was going to bite her for a second. She nodded and tightened her grip and turned towards the bass player. 

The guitar player grabbed Emma from behind in a half-nelson and began choking her. Emma grabbed his arm and bent over, using her momentum to flip him over and off her, landing on his back. Emma grabbed the mic stand. She tore off the microphone and its holder and jammed the end into his stomach. 

Shelby was surprisingly holding her own against the bass player. She delivered a blow to the back of his leg and brought him to a kneeling position where she began crashing his bass into his head over and over again until there was nothing left that resembled a face. 

Both girls turned to the drummer, who looked genuinely spooked. He took off in a sprint towards the warehouse’s back exit, where the band’s van was waiting. Emma ripped the ride cymbal off the drum set and threw it like a frisbee towards his neck. 

She didn’t have to look to know that she hit her mark. There was a thunk of the head hitting the floor, and the cymbal came crashing down onto the floor moments later. Emma glanced over at Shelby, who was disheveled covered in blood, and she figured she looked just as rough. 

“You did good,” Emma said, jumping down from the stage where all of their peers came back from their succubus induced haze. 

Shelby shrugged. She looked overwhelmed, but then began holding her head like everyone else was around her. “I think there’s a gas leak or something. We should all get out of here,” she shouted. 

Nick, who was just in his boxers, jumped on stage and started shouting orders to the party-goers. Emma and Shelby followed the herd and grabbed a confused looking Alyssa, pulling her towards the truck. 

“What just happened?” Alyssa asked woozily as she was helped up into the cab of the truck between Emma and Shelby. 

“You mean you don’t remember?” Shelby asked incredulously. 

Alyssa shook her head, “no. Everything’s fuzzy. I remember Emma getting here, Kaylee talked to us, then the band played, and it’s all just a blur.” 

Emma’s heart sank into her stomach, “so you don’t remember anything after the band started?” 

“No,” Alyssa’s brows furrowed together as she tried to remember. “Was it some sort of demon?” 

Emma could only give a small nod and started the car, driving back into town. Her mind was racing as Shelby filled Alyssa in on the succubus attack, kindly leaving out that Alyssa and Emma were making out less than half an hour ago. 

Did Alyssa only kiss Emma because of the magic? Was everything a lie? Emma scoffed internally at her naivety — of course, Alyssa didn’t mean it. She just saw Emma as a friend, and there wasn’t anything that would change that. 

“You okay, Em?” Alyssa asked, pulling Emma out of her spiral. 

Emma forced a smile, “yeah. I’m just thinking about what exactly I’m going to tell Barry. Especially since Shelby knows.” She glanced over at Shelby, who shifted a little in her seat. “It’ll probably be best if you come to the band hall during lunch on Monday. Barry has a whole presentation ready.” 

Shelby just nodded, even if she looked a little confused. 

“Anyways, I think I’m going to do a patrol. Do you guys want me to drop you off anywhere?” Emma asked, wanting nothing more than to be alone. 

“I could go for a burger,” Shelby said. “Lyssa, you down for some Moonbeam?” 

Alyssa studied Emma’s face for a moment before nodding, “yeah, that sounds good.” 

“Moonbeam it is then,” Emma sighed, turning left on Main st. They rode in silence until they pulled up to the diner. 

“Hey, Shel, can you grab a table? I’ll be right in.” Alyssa asked, watching as Shelby jumped out of the truck and went into the diner. She turned back to Emma, who was trying her hardest not to look at her. “If I did something while whammied by those guys, I’m sorry. But I was really looking forward to tonight, and I’m grateful you were there. I just wished things worked out differently than how it did.” 

Emma shrugged, “that’s life on the Hellmouth for you.” 

Alyssa scooched an inch closer to Emma and put her hand on top of hers on the steering wheel. Emma turned to look at Alyssa, “yeah, nothing like demons and magic to ruin your plans.” Alyssa slowly leaned in closer to Emma. 

Emma swallowed hard “plans?” Alyssa’s nose brushed Emma’s. 

“Yeah,” she breathed, closing the distance between them. 

This kiss felt right. Unlike their first kiss, this wasn’t heated or demanding. It was soft and perfect. And it was over far too soon for Emma’s liking. 

“I should get in there and let you get on with your patrolling,” Alyssa said softly, her dark brown eyes gazing into Emma’s. 

Emma couldn’t stop the dopey smile that spread across her face. “Let me know when you get home safe.” 

Alyssa squeezed Emma’s hand, “I will. Dust a vamp for me.” 

“I will,” Emma said as Alyssa slid out of the truck and walked into the Moonbeam. Emma pulled out of the parking lot with a grin, “I love Halloween.” 


	4. Turkey and Team Ups

“Are you sure you’ll be fine patrolling along for the week?” Shelby asked in hushed tones across their regular table at the Moonbeam. 

Shelby was brought quickly into the fold of Team Slayer as a vital member of the research department. The department name was Barry’s idea, and Emma didn’t have the heart to shut it down. 

It turned out, being bilingual since she was five meant Shelby picked up ancient languages faster than the others. Shelby managed to split her lunchtime between eating with Kaylee for the first half and pouring over dusty tomes to identify whatever demon or spell was wreaking havoc on Edgewater that week. She also insisted on joining Emma on patrols once a week, so Alyssa and Barry could have the night off. 

“Yeah, it’ll be like the old days,” Emma said casually, slipping her hand into Alyssa’s under the table. “I’ll be fine.” 

“I’m still going to do a protection charm just to be sure,” Alyssa squeezed Emma’s hand and leaned her shoulder into Emma’s. 

Emma couldn’t help but smile at their worry. She had to admit it was nice to have people who cared about her so much on her side. “When do you leave?” 

“We’re stopping off to visit some family in Miami on Monday before my Abuela’s on Wednesday. Back on Saturday.” Shelby drew out her schedule in the air with a fry as a pencil. 

“Mom and I are driving to Ohio on Tuesday, we’ll be back late Friday night. So, I’ll be able to make it on our regular Saturday patrol date.” Alyssa didn’t look incredibly excited to be going to her grandparents for the holiday. 

Emma squeezed her hand right back. 

“Ooooh, a patrol date?” Shelby teased. “Sounds romantic, you two.” 

Emma and Alyssa shared a look, and both flashed back to their patrol last week that was far more focused on seeing what little noises they could get out of each other than dusting vampires. 

Shelby snapped them out of their haze, “but you’ll be fine alone?” 

Emma leaned back in the booth, “I told you, I have the slaying down—” 

Shelby held up a hand to cut Emma off. “I meant for the whole week, just in general.” 

“Oh yeah. Gran  _ loves _ Thanksgiving.” 

— — —

To say Thanksgiving was Betsy Nolan’s favorite holiday was an understatement. There was nothing quite like getting together a group of people that she loved and filling them up on turkey, stuffing, and the like. 

Once her son stopped bringing his wife and Emma to Edgewater every year for Thanksgiving, Betsy decided to not let it ruin her love for the day. Instead, she opened her home up to anyone who didn’t have a place to go. The only rule was, they had to help with the dishes. 

It started with just Angie from the Moonbeam for a few years. The tall blonde woman would share stories from her dancer days in the city and remark how nice it was to eat a meal that she or Sheldon didn’t make once a year.

Eventually, Betsy’s “Misfits Thanksgiving” caught on. Sheldon followed Angie, and then Dee Dee and Trent from the Taproom joined when they moved into town. Betsy met them on the first Halloween “Boo-ze” night that the two had hosted at the bar, and she left that night with two RSVPs for Thanksgiving. 

This year was the main group: Angie, Sheldon, Dee Dee, and Trent — although Dee Dee and Trent would be joining later in the evening as usual. New to the Misfit’s Thanksgiving was Emma, of course, and her band teacher: Mr. Glickman, who Betsy met at Halloween. Once she heard he didn’t have any family around, she invited him on the spot. 

“Wait, you invited  _ who?? _ ” Emma coughed, trying to dislodge the cheerio she inhaled at her gran, telling her about Barry’s invite. 

“Mr. Glickman. He insisted on coming over early to help set up, so I expect you to be dressed and ready to help.” Betsy said, checking on the turkey in the oven before moving back to rolling out the pie dough. 

Emma finished drinking the milk out of her bowl and washed it, giving Betsy a small hug. “Well, I guess I better go get ready, huh? This effortless beauty can take hours to perfect.” 

She heard Betsy let out a laugh as Emma walked up the stairs to her room to find her most festive flannel. She was in the middle of pulling on her jeans when her phone rang. 

“Hello?” 

“Hey, it’s Kaylee!” 

Emma stopped her jeans-wiggle and sat up on her bed, “hey, Kaylee. What’s up?” 

“I was wondering if you were doing anything today? Shel and Lyssa are out of town, and Nick is just screaming about some football game and won’t answer his phone.” 

“You know it’s Thanksgiving, right? Aren’t you doing something with your family?” Emma held her phone between her cheek and shoulder as she pulled the zipper up and buttoned her pants. 

“Oh, shoot. That’s today?” Kaylee’s voice sounded small on the other end of the phone. 

“Uh, yeah. I mean, if you’re not doing anything special and your parents are okay with it, you can come over and have dinner with us.” 

“Really?” 

“Yeah, Gran always says the more, the merrier. You’ll just have to help with dishes after.” 

“Ohmigod, I would love to!” There was the unmistakable sound of Kaylee bounding up the stairs. “What time? What’s the dress code? Should I bring anything?” 

Emma couldn’t help but smile at the excitement in the girl’s voice. “Come by at four, casual, and just an empty stomach.” 

“Oh, yay! We’re out of food here anyway, so that won’t be a problem. I’ll see you soon!” Kaylee gave an excited squeal before she hung up the phone. 

Emma jogged down the stairs and into the kitchen with a slightly confused look on her face and phone in hand. “Hey, Gran? Is it okay if my friend Kaylee joins us?” 

Betsy looked up from her colander full of green beans, “of course! Is her family not doing anything for the day?” 

Emma pocketed her phone and went to the stove, giving the gravy a stir for good measure. “I don’t think so. She said something about the house, not having food. She mentioned that they travel a lot.” 

Betsy just hummed, “well, please remind me to pack her up extra to take home, then.” 

Emma just nodded and looked around the kitchen. “What can I help with?” 

“Peel and slice those apples. You’re on pie duty, missy.” She bumped Emma’s hip with her own. “I’m really happy you’re here this year, Emma.” 

“Me too, Gran,” Emma said softly, letting the love wash over her. 

— — — 

There was a knock at the door, and both Emma and Betsy sprung into action from their places on the couch watching the dog show. Betsy nearly ran to the kitchen to double-check on everything, and Emma went to the door. 

“Barry, hey. Happy Thanksgiving.” Emma said as she opened the door with a smile. While it was weird to see her Watcher in her house, he was beginning to feel like family, so it wasn’t as odd as she thought it’d be. 

He pulled her into a hug with a big smile, “Happy Thanksgiving, kiddo.” 

“Is that Mr. Glickman, I hear?” Betsy called out from the kitchen, walking into the entryway with an apron that she definitely didn’t have on before. 

Barry flashed his winning smile and kissed Betsy on both cheeks, “none of that Mr. Glickman stuff. The kids call me Barry, and so should you.” 

“Well, then, Barry. Welcome to our home. Happy Thanksgiving.” Betsy said with a smile. 

“It’s beautiful, Betsy. But you’re so close to the cemetery, aren’t you worried about ghosts or anything?” He asked with a small smirk that only Emma noticed. 

Betsy waved the thought away with a chuckle, “of course not. The vampires are the ones you gotta look out for, but I have protection.” 

Both Emma and Barry stood there in shock. 

Betsy looked at the two of them with a smug expression. “I’ve been the cemetery caretaker on top of a Hellmouth for the last 35 years. You’re not the first Slayer that I’ve met. Plus, I’ve been washing a lot of blood out of your laundry, so that was a big red flag.” 

“G-Gran. I—” Emma started, but couldn’t quite find the words. 

“Just stay safe. Please. Both of you.” Her voice was quiet, “I saw what happened to one of the last girls.” 

Barry thankfully spoke up, “Emma’s one of the best Slayers that the council has seen in decades. She’s got a good team behind her, and I won’t let anything happen to her.” 

Betsy stood there for a moment, taking in his words and studying Barry’s face to try and find the slightest inkling of a lie. “I’m trusting you to take care of my granddaughter, Barry. Don’t let me down because I don’t know what I’d do without her.” 

“I’m the same way,” Barry said solemnly, bowing his head. 

Emma let the moment sink in before clearing her throat and speaking up, “should we show Barry to the dining room to help with the tablescape?” 

Betsy smiled again. The serious talk was done. “Of course, follow me.” She led Barry into the dining room, and Emma stayed by the door, taking in everything that just happened. 

There was another knock at the door, and Emma shook her head to clear her mind. She plastered on a smile and opened the door. “Kaylee!” 

The girl was standing there in an oversized sweater, leggings, boots, and the biggest smile Emma had ever seen. “Emmy!!! Thanks for inviting me!” She bounded into the house and gave Emma a crushing hug. 

Emma gave a few pats on Kaylee’s shoulder, surprised at her strength. “No problem! Uh— Kayles, breathing is becoming an issue.” 

“Oh! Right.” Kaylee put Emma down and fixed her hair. “It smells so good!” 

“That’s Gran’s cooking. She said you can take home as much as you want after dinner tonight.” Emma rubbed her ribs where Kaylee had hugged her. 

Kaylee’s face lit up, “that’s so nice! Mom and Dad are always traveling, so I’m sorta just on my own for most the year, and I’m not big on the cooking.” 

Betsy walked into the entryway on her way to the kitchen and saw Kaylee there. She put on a smile and opened her arms to the girl. “Happy Thanksgiving, you must be Kaylee.” 

Kaylee practically launched herself at Betsy, giving her a big hug, “thank you so much for having me here, Mrs. Nolan.” 

“Betsy, please,” Betsy said. “And I heard what you were telling Emma just now. If you ever get tired of fending for yourself or being in an empty house, you’re more than welcome to stay here for a weekend or so.” 

“Are you sure?” Kaylee’s voice was filled with awe and reverence. 

Betsy waved it off, “we have an extra room, and it’d be nice to cook for someone other than Emma.” 

“Gran!” Emma huffed delightfully embarrassed. 

She was silenced by a good-natured yet stern look from her gran. “How about you stay over this weekend? It’d save me having to pack everything up in Tupperware.” 

“I’d love to!” Kaylee was practically vibrating where she stood. She turned to Emma with a squeal, “I’m going to go get my stuff, and I’ll be right back.” She took off in a sprint to her car that impressed both Emma and Betsy. 

Emma looked at Betsy, baffled. “So is Kaylee staying with us this weekend?” 

“This is what the holidays are about, Emma.” Betsy sang, walking back to the kitchen. 

Angie and Sheldon showed up together with smiles and rolls in hand. Kaylee was back not far behind them, and Emma showed her upstairs to the spare bedroom. Emma watched the sun go down, and then there was a knock on the door. 

“Dee Dee! Trent! Please, come inside.” Emma could hear the adults greet the newcomers downstairs. 

“We should head down there,” Emma jerked her head towards the door. Kaylee jumped up from her place on the bed and followed Emma downstairs. 

Dee Dee held herself in a way that Emma had never seen before. It was like she knew that everyone around her knew she was better than them. Dee Dee turned around to face Emma and Kaylee as they came down the stairs. She stuck her hand out for Emma to shake. 

“You must be Emma!” Her eyes sparkled with interest at the sight of the blonde. “Please forgive me, cold hands. I left my gloves at the bar.” 

Emma shook her hand with a smile, “it’s nice to finally meet you.” She turned towards the man, “and you must be Trent.” 

Trent had an air about him that wished it was like Dee Dee’s. Still, he had kind eyes and a warm smile. He shook Emma’s hand with a grin and introduced himself to Kaylee. 

Betsy gave a happy little clap and gestured to the dining room, “who’s hungry?” 

She was met with excited grumblings from everyone as they followed her into the room. All the food was laid out on the table, and Emma took her place between Betsy and Kaylee. The food, of course, was delicious, but what interested Emma far more was the conversation. 

The adults talked about who had died within the past month — a typical conversation for the people of Edgewater — and just how many suffered from a fatal neck rupture. Dee Dee seemed to have all of the gossip. She knew of deaths that Betsy didn’t even know of yet, which was odd since Betsy was one of the first people to know after the coroner so she could get a grave ready.

Food was eaten, and bellies were full, and the group moved to the kitchen to tackle the mountain of dirty dishes and pans. Kaylee and Emma were put on drying and putting-away duty. 

Kaylee reached into the sink full of clean dishes and pulled back as if something bit her. “Ow!” She wrapped her hand around her right pointer finger with a pained expression, “I think I stabbed myself on a fork.” 

Dee Dee jumped to action and pulled Kaylee’s finger under the stream of warm water. Emma thought she saw Dee Dee lick her lips, and everything clicked into place. 

Emma pulled Barry by the arm, “can you help me put this away? I’m too short.” Barry gave her a confused look because they were both the same height, but followed Emma to the corner of the kitchen with the roasting pan. “Barry. I think Dee Dee’s a vampire.” 

Barry just smiled as she listed off her proof in a whisper. 

“Gran invited her in. Her hands were weirdly cold. She didn’t eat as much as everyone else did.  _ AND  _ she just licked her lips when Kaylee started bleeding. What do I do?” Emma was talking at a mile a minute, and her mind was racing. She could feel the adrenaline starting to fill her body. 

Barry put the roasting pan up into the cabinet and shook his head with a bemused grin. “Nothing.” 

Emma’s head snapped to look at her watcher, “nothing? A vampire has access to my house.” 

“Dee Dee is what we like to call a ‘necessary evil.’ She knows everything about everyone, demon or otherwise. She’s a businesswoman, as long as we don’t kill her, she’ll work with us. That’s an in on information that we wouldn’t know until we’re face-to-face with some big bad.” Barry said softly, his eyes flickered back and forth from Emma to Dee Dee and back again. “Keeping her around means that you have a better chance of surviving, and I’m not going to give up any advantage we have. You’re too important to me to lose.” 

Emma watched Dee Dee patch Kaylee’s finger up. “Okay… But the second there’s any funny business, she’s dust.” 

Barry gave a small chuckle, “I would expect nothing less.” 

— — — 

Emma tried to do her best to make sure Kaylee was asleep before climbing out the window and heading to patrol. But unlike her gran, who slept in complete silence, which made it easy to see if she was asleep, Kaylee listened to positive affirmation ASMR loudly at night. Still, every hour that she wasn’t out patrolling meant more vampires slipping into the town and hurting people, and the thought of that made Emma sick to her stomach. 

She scaled down the trellis and made her way into the cemetery. 

It was a misty night, but that never really bothered Emma much. There was something about it that made patrolling more fun. Maybe it was the added drama. Or it could be the feeling of being in a Party City Halloween commercial that made hunting vampires just a bit more enjoyable. 

Emma weaved her way between headstones, careful not to step on any graves out of respect, and wandered toward the mausoleums. There was a crunch of leaves behind her, and Emma turned, stake at the ready, to face whatever it was. 

“Goddammit.” Emma let Mr. Pointy fall to her side, “Kaylee, what the hell are you doing out here?” 

“Freezing my ass off,” she pulled the arms of her sweatshirt over her hands. “Why are  _ you _ out here?” 

Emma tried to hide the stake behind her back but then thought better of it at the last minute. “I couldn’t sleep, and sometimes I like going on a walk.” 

“Through the cemetery?” Kaylee took a small step away from Emma, “that’s creepy.” 

Emma just shrugged, trying to play it off. “I’m eccentric.” 

“No, you’re hiding something.” 

“I promise I’m not— Shit. Kaylee, get down!” Emma took off in a sprint right towards Kaylee. 

Kaylee squealed and jumped out of the way as to not get run over by the Slayer. “Emma! What’s your problem?” She looked up from her new place on the ground and gasped at the sight of Emma delivering a crescent kick to a vampire’s head. “What is that?” 

Emma deflected a punch to her head with her arm and used the opening to ram the stake into the vampire’s chest. He dissolved into dust as Emma pulled Mr. Pointy out of his heart. She brushed the vamp dust off of her hands and reached down to help Kaylee up. 

“Welcome to Team Slayer, Kaylee,” Emma said with a smile. She had no idea how Kaylee would play into the team dynamic, or even if she could be trusted. But, Kaylee knew the big secret, so Emma was really just banking on Barry to find a place for Kaylee. 

“Is this what you, Alyssa, and Shelby are always whispering about?” Her tone was pointed, but her face looked almost sad. 

“Uh, yeah.” Emma shrugged. “They help with stuff.” 

Kaylee nodded, “and now I get to help too?”

“Yeah, I guess if you want to.” Emma passed the stake from hand to hand, trying to find something to do with the adrenaline coursing through her body. 

“Of course, I want to! I don’t like not being a part of stuff,” Kaylee huffed. “Shelby used to tell me everything, but she’s been weird since Halloween, and I miss her. Alyssa, too, of course. But Shelby is like my person. You know?” 

Emma gave a small smile, “I know.” 

Kaylee brushed the grass off of her pajama pants, “well, now that’s all done. Let’s get to the slaying.” 

“That’s it?”

Kaylee’s head cocked to the side like a confused puppy. “Yeah.” 

“No asking what we’re slaying or why that guy just turned to instant soup mix?” Emma was taken aback at the smaller girl trying to grab for Mr. Pointy. 

Kaylee shrugged and shook her head. “Not really. You’re some sort of monster hunter. He was a monster, you hunted him, he died, the end.” 

Emma stood there for a moment, mulling over the simplified synopsis of her life. “You’re not wrong. But—” she put the stake in her back pocket and motioned for Kaylee to follow her as they walked back towards the house. “You’re not ready to go on patrols yet. I still don’t like having Alyssa and Shelby out with me, but they’ve gone through their training with Barry, so I know they can hold their own.” 

“You do know I’ve been in self-defense classes since I was ten?” Kaylee said plainly like it was the most mundane thing in the world. “I’m not starting at square one here.” 

Emma sighed and looked up at the sky. Deep down, she knew that Kaylee wouldn’t take no for an answer about this — she was far too stubborn, and Emma could tell that she was hurt from being left out of the group for so long. “How about we do a test run? We’ll go over some moves after lunch, and if everything goes well, you can come out tomorrow night. Sound good?” 

“Yes!” Kaylee gave Emma a big hug before going off into a monologue about how she knew something was up and how the Halloween party couldn’t have been a gas leak. 

A few yards away, hidden deep in the bushes around the Hayworth mausoleum, a man turned his phone camera to face him instead of the girls. “Did you see that, boss?” 

He could see only a pair of eyes glinting in the dark screen. “So the Slayer’s got another one. No worries, we have gotten enough information on her and her little friends. Has Willings gotten back to you yet?” 

“No, sir, he’s still camped outside the Witch’s house. I don’t think they’ll be back for a while.” 

“I’m going to need you to take his post from now on. She’s far more important to me than the Slayer.” 

The vampire nodded, “Yes, sir. I won’t let you down.” 

There was a deep chuckle on the other end of the line. “You better not, because you wouldn’t like me when I’m disappointed.” 


	5. Reunions and Ruminations

“Are you sure she’s ready?” Shelby whispered to Kaylee as they watched Alyssa and Emma talk. 

“She has to be,” Kaylee murmured back, her brow furrowed in worry. “If she’s not ready after all this training, she won’t ever be, you know?” 

“Yeah, I guess…” Shelby trailed off as Emma turned to face her and Kaylee with an unamused look on her face.

“I can hear you guys,” Emma said, letting go of Alyssa’s hand and walking to her two friends. She pointed to her ear. “Slayer senses. I can hear like 98% of what you say.” 

Kaylee cocked her head to one side, “then why do you wear glasses?” 

Emma shrugged, “I like how they look.” She looked back at where Alyssa was standing a few feet behind them and leaned in to whisper, “her mom can’t be  _ that _ bad, right?” 

Shelby and Kaylee shared a look before Shelby spoke up, “well, you are Alyssa’s first girlfriend. And Mrs. Greene hasn’t been super pro-dating for Alyssa ever since her dad left. So, it definitely won’t be a casual dinner if that’s what you’re asking.”

“Oh god…” Emma’s eyes got wide as she trailed off in fear of the countless different questions she could get from her girlfriend’s mom. She was only pulled out of it when Alyssa slipped her hand into Emma’s. 

“Stop scaring her.” Alyssa said as she flashed Kaylee and Shelby her ‘I’m Serious’ face. “Em, it’s just dinner. It’s going to be for two hours, three tops, and it’ll be fine.”

Emma shifted uncomfortably from one foot to the other, “she’s your  _ mom _ , Lys.” 

“And you face demons every single night.” Alyssa said, pulling Emma into a soft kiss, “do not worry about this. She’s going to love you. I promise.” 

Emma cuddled a little further into Alyssa’s arms until she heard the beleaguered sigh of Barry from across the room. 

“Please tell me why we are talking about dinner with Alyssa’s mom instead of actually training?” Barry said as he flashed a look at Shelby and Kaylee’s bruises from the patrol the night before. 

“Beeecauseee,” Kaylee huffed. “It’s way more fun thinking about all the ways Emma is going to be bad at convincing Mrs. Greene that she’s good enough for Alyssa than hitting each other.” 

Barry cocked his head to the side and stared off into the middle distance as if he was trying to work out some grand mystery. He took a deep breath and looked at the girls, “you know what? You’re right. Emma, what are you going to wear?”

Emma looked at her watcher incredulously, “are you kidding me?” 

“No, I’m not.” Barry pulled out a chair and gestured for her to sit, “show me how you’re going to sit down at the dinner table.” 

Emma dragged her feet as she walked to the chair and mumbled, “where is an apocalypse when you need one?” 

—— 

Emma was too deep into Hope Hill to hear the tires screeching as a black Towncar sped through the four-way stop in front of the cemetery. Even if she was close enough to hear it, the Small Bone Eater Demons — at least that’s what Barry insisted they were called despite their immense size— were keeping the Team Slayer more than busy. 

The car only slowed down as it approached the McDonalds drive-thru. “Welcome to McDonald’s. What can I get you?” 

The window rolled down just enough for a dark-eyed man to be heard. “Just a coffee, please.” 

“Yes, sir, anything else?” 

The man looked over his shoulder at the person sitting next to him, who shook their head. “No, that’s it.” 

There was a small static buzz over the intercom, “Alright, that will be $1.50 at the second window.” 

The person next to the man cleared his throat, “I heard the Slayer set up shop here.” 

The man’s eyebrow quirked up at this. “Is that so?”

“Sir, let me take her out. I know that we’re assured success.” 

The man just smiled, his eyes glinting in the darkness. “I don’t need you to kill the girl; she won’t even know what’s going on until it’s too late.” He turned towards the drive-thru window and tossed the tired-looking young man $5, and took the coffee cup from him. “Besides, you never know when you need a snack — and I’ve heard Slayer blood delectable.”

“Yes, sir. Speaking of a snack, I took the liberty of making sure you have someone to nibble on when we get to the liar.” 

He nodded, “thank you, Harrison. It’s good to be home.” 

The Towncar peeled off into the night towards Edgewater’s warehouse district. 

— — 

Emma shifted her weight from foot to foot as she waited for the door to open. She was in her best button-down and had a bouquet of violets in hand. There were the subtle sounds of footsteps in the back of the house that anyone who wasn’t the Slayer wouldn’t have been able to hear, and Emma straightened her back and put on a smile as she heard them approach. 

The front door opened, and Emma was face to face with Alyssa. She let out a breath and let her body deflate just a little, letting go of the stress she held in her shoulders to try and pass for good posture. 

“Hi,” Emma said softly, stepping into the house and giving Alyssa a quick peck on the cheek. 

“You look like you’re ready for a demon to jump out at any minute,” Alyssa teased, taking Emma’s free hand and giving it a small squeeze. “You’re going to do fine. She’s going to love you.” 

As if on cue, Mrs. Greene came into the front room with a smile. “You must be Emma!” 

“Yes, ma’am,” Emma let go of Alyssa’s hand to shake Mrs. Greene’s. “It’s nice to meet you.” 

“It’s very nice to meet you too.” Mrs. Greene said as she shook Emma’s hand. Her attention turned to the flowers in Emma. “Are those for me?” 

Emma looked down at the flowers like they had just appeared out of nowhere, “Oh! Uh— Yes!” She handed them to Mrs. Greene, kicking herself for how awkward she sounded. 

Mrs. Greene just smiled at the flowers, then up at Emma and Alyssa. “They’re beautiful, thank you. I hope you like chicken—” her sentence was cut off by the sound of the oven timer going off, “speaking of, please excuse me.” 

Emma huffed out a breath when Mrs. Greene was out of earshot, “I feel like I’m messing this all up. Am I messing this up?” 

Alyssa looked at her like she was a puppy who got muddy from playing out in the rain for too long. “Baby, you just have to calm down. I promise she’s going to love you. Just breathe, Emma.” 

The blonde shook out her hand and tried to release the tension from her shoulders, “okay.” 

Alyssa retook her hand and tugged her gently down the hall, “anyways, it’s time for the customary house tour.” 

She led Emma down the hall filled with pictures of a baby Alyssa with people that Emma assumed was her grandparents. Emma pointed her chin at a photo of an older woman laughing at a toddler Alyssa whose cheeks were blown out like a chipmunk. “Is that the grandma that you were trying to talk to?” 

Alyssa gave a small smile. Her eyes were a swirl of nostalgia and sadness. “Yeah. Grandma always told me how powerful I was. She always said, ‘magic is like a garden. Tend to it daily, give it only the best of you, and you’ll get the best out of it.’” 

“She sounds amazing,” Emma squeezed Alyssa’s hand. “I bet she’d be so proud to see you now.” 

Alyssa let out a slight laugh, “I don’t think she thought I’d be fighting demons nightly with it, but hey, I’m doing good.”

“More than good, you’re saving lives,” Emma gently knocked their shoulders together. 

“God, that’s weird to think about,” Alyssa’s words trailed out in thought. 

Emma had already moved on to another picture of a baby Alyssa on a playground with a smiling man. “Is this—” 

“My dad,” Alyssa’s voice had a bitter edge to it. “Mom has hardly changed the house since he left. I think she thinks that if nothing changes, then he’ll come home, and it’ll be just like it was before.”

“Do you want him to come back?” Emma asked softly. She could tell this was a sore subject for Alyssa, but curiosity had gotten the better of her. 

The brunette studied the picture of her and her father for a few seconds as if she was trying to memorize it. “I don’t know. I miss him, but if he really loved us, then he wouldn’t have left in the first place. And I’m not the same little kid I was when he left. So, I don’t even know what it would look like to have any sort of relationship with him now.” 

“I get that,” Emma squeezed her hand. “Well, wherever he is, I hope he knows he messed up big time.” 

“Thanks.” 

Mrs. Greene called for them from the kitchen, “dinner’s ready!” And the girls made their way to the dining room, where the bouquet was sitting in the middle of the beautifully set table in a vase. 

“It smells amazing, Mrs. Greene,” Emma said, trying to stop her mouth from watering. She scooped up the salad bowl and carried it to the table, doing an inner victory dance when she saw that Mrs. Greene smiled a little. 

Emma pulled Alyssa’s chair out for her with practiced ease — she had worked with Kaylee for three hours last night on just this moment. Alyssa flashed her an amused look but didn’t say anything as she sat down and let Emma push the chair in two inches (the  _ perfect _ amount, according to Kaylee). Emma moved to sit next to Alyssa and took a deep breath. She knew what was coming, and it terrified her — small talk. 

“So, Emma,” Mrs. Greene studied the blonde over her salad. “It’s not often that students transfer their senior year. What brought you to Edgewater?” 

“My parents wanted to go on their dream 'year-long backpacking across Europe’ trip before my dad’s bad knee finally gives out. They didn’t want to pull me out of school for an entire year, so Gran took me in.” Emma had told this lie so many times that she was starting to believe it herself. But then again, telling your girlfriend’s mom that being swarmed by demons wasn’t the “I’m a safe and good choice for your daughter” selling point Emma was going for. 

Mrs. Greene busied herself with cutting her chicken breast. Emma could tell she was trying to be as casual as possible, but the last word she’d ever use to describe Veronica Greene would be casual. “And you’re close with your grandmother?” 

“Yes, ma’am,” Emma couldn’t help but smile when she felt Alyssa give her knee a small squeeze underneath the table. “She’s one of my best friends.” 

“And what do you do for fun?” 

It was beginning to feel like a full-blown investigation. 

“I play guitar. I’m trying to teach myself Spanish — well, the Duolingo Owl keeps yelling at me to practice. And I help Gran with some of the work at the cemetery.” Mrs. Greene’s face went from one of feigned interest to full-on surprise. Emma stumbled over her words, trying to clarify, “it’s mainly gardening and yard work. Nothing crazy.” 

Mrs. Greene was still for just a fraction longer than Emma was comfortable with, but she nodded as if she accepted the answer. Emma heard Alyssa let out a small sigh of relief beside her. “And what about—” Her words were cut off by a knock at the door. “Excuse me.” Mrs. Greene headed to the door after giving Emma a smile that simultaneously said, “you’re doing well,” and “we’re not done.” 

Emma could hear the door open, and her heart nearly jumped out of her chest when Mrs. Greene let out a scream. 

Within seconds, Emma was at the door, ready to take down whatever baddie was waiting for her. Alyssa was not far behind, clutching her butter knife just in case. 

But it wasn’t a demon at the door. It was a man that Mrs. Greene clung to like he was the only lifeline she had to this world. She moved away just long enough for Emma and Alyssa to get a good look at his face, and Emma felt Alyssa’s entire body tense next to her. 

“Dad?” 

— — 

“Oh. My. God! So what did you do?” Kaylee laid on Emma’s bed, hanging on her every word. Kaylee had practically moved into the Nolan home after Thanksgiving. Not that Emma minded. It was nice to have someone to talk to about this stuff who wasn’t Gran. 

“I checked on Alyssa. Then I left.” Emma pulled her shoes off and threw them in her designated ‘shoe corner’. “I mean, he’s been gone for like a decade. She needs to get to know him again on her own before she brings anyone else into that. I respect that, so I’m supporting from afar on the Dad-Front.” 

“You’re so smart,” Kaylee said in reverence. “Like you’re so mature. If this was Nick and me, he’d be trying to convince me to climb through his window later that night to ‘cheer him up’.” 

“Well, that’s partially because he’s a teenage boy,” Emma’s voice was muffled through the closet door as she changed into her patrolling clothes. “And if I’m being honest, you’re way too good for Nick.” 

Kaylee cocked her head to the side like she always did when trying to process new information. “I don’t get it. He’s, like, so popular and cute.” 

Emma peeked her head out from the closet, “well, yeah. But does he make you feel loved? Not just wanted, but actually loved?” 

Kaylee shook her head a little, “I mean, he’s always talking about how excited he is for us to get married so he can take care of me while I raise the kids.” 

Emma walked over to the shoe corner and dug around for her sneakers, “do you want that?” 

“I don’t know,” Kaylee said softly. “I want to do my own thing before settling down, you know?” 

“Have you told him this?” Emma said as she pulled on and laced her shoes. 

“No, that’s the kind of stuff I talk about with Shelby.” 

Emma couldn’t help but flashback to Halloween and Shelby’s face when she saw Nick and Kaylee together. “Does she make you feel loved?” 

Kaylee’s face broke into a big smile as she nodded, “yeah. She’s my person.” Emma just smiled as she waited for Kaylee to put two and two together. “Why are you looking at me like that?” 

“No reason,” Emma shrugged, shouldering her patrol bag. “Ready to go?” 

Kaylee pushed herself off of the bed onto her feet, “lead the way Oh Great Chosen One.” 

Emma shook her head, trying hard to hide her amusement. "Do you think dinner went okay? Like I didn't mess it up?" 

"I mean, we practiced for almost everything except her dad coming back, so I'd say you did pretty good." Kaylee nudged Emma with her shoulder. "Anyways, can't be worse than what the Hellmouth serves up every day, huh?" 

"I'd take demons over meeting the parents any day." 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you my friends for your patience with me on this! I'm finally getting that writing bug back, and I'm excited to start actually getting into our new Big Bad. 
> 
> Thanks for reading! Love you!


End file.
